It's been a long time coming but the debut album from Louis Mattrs is finally here.
'On The Rocks' is out now, a full showcase for the vocalist who caught our attention with those stunning SG Lewis and Chase & Status collaborations.
It's a broad, diverse display of his talents, with Louis Mattrs displaying admirable maturity in the way he sluices together differing sonic influences.
The full album is online now, and we're able to present a full track by track guide to this impressive debut offering…
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'Pink Lemonade'
A friend of mine told me a story about how he only drank pink lemonade and spirits when he was seeing a certain girl. I thought it was pretty funny so we wrote a song about it. Mentioning no names, Ed Thomas.
Ed laid down some guitar parts whilst myself and Brad Baloo ate a family pack of crisps. After we all wrote the song together Brad and I went on to the produce the song to what it is today.
'Don't Lose Your Cool'
I was in a four to the floor kinda mood when I made this song. I tried to give it that Hippie Sabotage type of drop in the chorus.
I wrote the song about someone who pretends to be a calm and chilled person when really they just lose their sh*t at any given opportunity. After producing the song I then sent it over to Baloo to give it that magic touch.
'Killer'
This was one of the first songs that I ever wrote, years and years ago. The message that I try to portray is that we'll do almost anything for love (it's not about literally being in love with a killer – I'm not a pyscho I promise).
The video for this song is my favourite video that I have ever done. We filmed in the early hours of the morning and had farmers threatening to shoot down our drone cameras but it turned out alright in the end.
'Bow Down'
Timbaland was definitely a massive influence when I made this song with Two Inch Punch and Ali Tennant. The song is about being in complete awe of someone and that you would bow down to their greatness, hence the title Bow Down. I've always been a massive fan of T.I.P's production so it was a great honour to work with him on this track.
'Searching'
This is probably the most meaningful song to me on the album. I wrote it when I was suffering from anxiety, someone came into my life and helped me through this stage. I wrote and produced this song in my bedroom and then sent it on to Baloo who added more production to it, giving it that epic feel.
'Take You There'
I've always loved a bit of disco so I thought it was only right to bring the vibes on this song. We tried to make the the track and vocals sound dreamy as the song is quite a seductive one.
'Don't Like Dancing'
I wrote this song with Elli Ingram and we initially thought it would be a song for her. It didn't quite suit the sound of her album so I re-recorded it and switched it up to make it my own.
Whilst writing the track we'd had a few too many drinks and thought how funny it was to mock people who sit down in bars and never get up to dance. When producing the song I tried to bring in elements of Pharrell mixed with a bit of Jamiroquai.
'Fear In Me'
I took a lot of inspiration from Portishead on this song, bringing drum breaks and a lot of live elements to the track. I wrote the song with Paddy Byrne who was going through a similar situation to me at the time so it came very naturally. I can't take the credit for the production on this one, Baloo did an amazing job.
'Bring It' Justin Timberlake – please don't sue me. I grew up listening to Justified and had to bring some of those elements into this song. I wrote it on my Dad's guitar which he's happy about as it gives him a story to tell down the pub.
'Drive By'
This song is about when I was younger and how me and my friends thought we were really cool driving around in a fiat punto with the music blaring out. Looking back on it, we definitely weren't. Doing a handbrake turn around the back of McDonalds is probably not the best of ideas.
'The Team'
I needed a song on the album that burnt your face off with a fat 808 when hearing it live. Hopefully this has done the trick. I started making the beat with a sample library voice which either says "make it bounce" or "thinking bout" and I still can't work out which one it is.
'Forever Mine'
Last but not least, forever mine. I tried to create a Timbaland type feel to the track but with a slight modern twist.
Like the majority of my album, I wrote this song in my bedroom late at night which is my favourite place to be in the world. The overall sound of the song felt like a great finisher to the album.
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'On The Rocks' is out now.
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